Inside every person -- fit or on their way to fit, is a strong, motivated, determined Badass! Follow Cycling instructor and trainer Shannon Colavecchio down the road to a better, more Badass you.

Muscle recovery

08/03/2012

Ever since I tweaked my lower back last year after too many track speedwork sessions and not enough time with my massage therapist and foam roller, I have been diligent and adamant about making the time and setting aside a budget for monthly sports massages, plus weekly CryoSauna sessions and foam roller "therapy" a few times a week using Trigger Point's products. (I refer to them affectionately as "foam roller on steroids"!)

I learned the hard way that when your body and muscles ARE your job and work tool, sports massages and cryotherapy are not "indulgences." They are critical maintenance tools. Without them, I am no good for my students and clients and my muscles scream at me way too loud.

With massage and CryoSauna, I perform better. My muscle recovery time is markedly shorter - a must given my heavy load of classes and clients. Moreover, I recommend my hard-working students and clients give just as much care to their own muscle recovery and tension release. Overworked and under-indulged muscles don't get stronger. They just get injured.

So imagine my excitement when Trigger Point founder Cassidy Phillips and his team debuted a new product at the IDEA fitness conference I attended in San Diego last month. They call it the Cold Roller, and they had a few on hand at their IDEA expo hall booth, where I fell in love and pre-ordered one ($109.99).

It combines the cold therapy I get in the CryoSauna (which is like a speedy, dry-cold version of the ice bath) with the myofascial release I get with their Grid, Quadballer, etc.)

You store the Cold Roller in the freezer, and once it's out it stays cold for two hours. Much like the CryoSauna but for far less cost-per-use, the Cold Roller provides the benefits of the ice bath but without the need to "thaw out" frozen, stiff muscles for hours and hours afterward. Instead the Cold Roller rejuvenates and stimulates the targeted muscles with the rolling effect.

As you'll see from the video below, it sort of resembles the much-parodied Shake Weight - but I promise you the Cold Roller is nothing to laugh at. I have used it every other night this week after my 2-a-days of bootcamps and cycling classes, and all I can say is: Wow. My quads, IT bands and hamstrings are very, very happy!

Heavy weights and fewer reps are best. Oh, wait. Light weight and high reps are the way to go.

Out here in the universe of fitness and health, there is a lot of information. Some of it is just plain wrong. Some of it is convoluted. Some is right on target. All of it, put together, is enough to make the Badass Army's collective brain scatter in a million confused directions.

Being successful in the Badass Journey has a lot to do with motivation and determination, but it's tough to stay on track without the right (read: accurate) information. To start off yet another week, I present you with the...drum roll...Monday Myth Buster Edition!!!

1. I should avoid eggs because they'll raise my cholesterol:Eggs, nutritionally speaking, are second only to mother's milk. The cholesterol hype of years past has mostly died down, thanks to studies showing that eating a whole egg or two everyday is most certainly not going to put you on cholesterol-lowering meds.

2. Eating fat will make me fat: Multiple studies show that people who regularly consume a higher level of omega-3 fatty acids are slimmer – while obese individuals are almost always deficient in these type of fats.

Our bodies need fat to absorb nutrients. That's why

a spinach salad dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar is better than a naked

spinach salad. The key is to avoid saturated fats and seek out "good fats" like

the ones found in olive oil, flaxseed oil, and foods like eggs and avocados.

3. If a female lifts too many weights, she'll look like a man: If she takes

steroids along with those dumbbell curls, then yes Roberta might start to look and sound like Robert. But I lift weights often, and heavy ones - 12 reps of a 360-pound leg press, thank you very much! And I'm pretty sure I still look like Shannon, not Shane. The fact is, lifting weights builds lean muscle -- whittling us into shape, boosting metabolism and strengthening our bones to stave off osteoporosis.

4. I can't lift weights everyday: We should definitely give our bodies a rest day, but you can absolutely lift weights on multiple days in a row as long as you're dividing up your program so that different body parts are worked on different days. Example: Glutes and hamstrings with abs on Monday, back and biceps on Tuesday, chest and triceps on Wednesday, quads and calves with abs on Thursday, and shoulders with core work on Friday.

5.

For a six-pack, I should do 100 crunches every night: Give me 15 minutes, and I'll work your core without ever doing a single crunch. With planks, mountain climbers, pikes, woodchops and other moves, you can strengthen your core in a functional way while developing that washboard - and eliminating a lot of those boring crunches.

6.

The key to losing weight is to eat as little as possible: WRONG! The key to losing weight is to burn more calories than we take in. But our bodies are

pretty much still the vessel of caveman days. So if we drop daily calorie intake too low (below 1,200 calories, as a general guide), our bodies go into "foraging for food" starvation mode and metabolism slows to a crawl. It's a survival mechanism. The best method is to feed your body moderate, sensible meals while exercising. Skipping meals or eating carrots for dinner is not the way to go.

7.

Snacking is bad: Americans have been programmed to eat three, sometimes just two, big meals. But to keep blood sugar levels stable and to keep the 'furnace' that is our metabolism burning, the ideal formula is smaller meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner with a couple of healthy snacks thrown in. Think almonds, string cheese, fruit, hummus, carrots, whole grain crackers, etc.

8.

Cardio is the best way to boost my metabolism: Cardio is a great calorie

torcher, but for long-term metabolism boosting the best strategy is to build

lean muscle through a combination of cardio and strength work (read: lift weights! Use resistance bands! Do pushups!). Muscle builds more calories, even at rest, than fat. So add muscle, and raise your metabolism.

9.

Chocolate, coffee, and wine are evil: Lots of things are evil in moderation (I.e. murder, embezzlement, smoking crack, kicking the dog). But chocolate, coffee and wine do not belong on the "do not touch" list. Dark chocolate has antioxidants, it is a mood booster, and sometimes we just need it. Coffee has been shown to make those who drink it regularly far less likely to develop Parkinson's. And red wine contains antioxidants such as reseveratrol that may help prevent heart disease by increasing levels of "good" cholesterol and protecting against artery damage.

10. The best diet for me is [insert diet-of-the-moment here] and the best workout plan is [insert the latest celebrity-driven workout here]: I hate the word "diet." It sounds inherently temporary, when in fact healthy eating should become a way of living. A part of your everyday life. So the perfect plan for you is the one that keeps you healthy, lean, strong - and HAPPY. There's no use going through life feeling starved and self-deprived. Find balance in your eating.

And as far as exercise, the best method for you is the one that you enjoy. If you hate distance running, don't force yourself to train for a half-marathon. If cycling is your thing, have at it! I often tell my cycling students, "This is your ride. Control it. Do what works for you." This life is your Badass Journey. So take it as your own. Find what works, and keep going.

05/26/2010

I've been on the "injured list" for a week (more on that tomorrow), and admittedly, it's starting to drive me kinda batty. If you've been reading Badass Fitness for any length of time, you probably get that I am not exactly the type to sit still for long.

I walk fast, I run and cycle fast, I write fast, I talk fast. I don't do much sitting around unless it involves sitting at a computer working and writing (or meeting friends for a drink on a Saturday night, as I did this past weekend).

This is wonderful for work productivity and time management. Unfortunately, it makes me an impatient patient. My surgery was Thursday, and here I am antsy and wondering when I will be cleared to get fully back to my Badass ways.

But I am working at this whole recovery thing, and reacquainting myself with the art of walking. Just walking. (Cue the sound of me sighing...oh, and check out how my eyes roll with dramatic flair!) Not cycling, not running sprints, not bounding up and down Doak Campbell Stadium.

Oh, these are the things I WANT to be doing. My quads are screaming for more action. My hamstrings want to feel the tension of cycling up a steep mountain. My back wants to do pull-ups. But I am telling them all to just shush and wait.

All the while, I keep walking. Every day this week, I've been walk for an hour to 90 minutes in the morning and sometimes half an hour or more in the evening. I still miss the endorphin rush of teaching cycling, but I'll be back in the saddle soon enough. And I'm reminded during these walks of the importance of active recovery.

At some point, we all get sidelined. Injuries happen, and they stink. But buck up, Badasses, and welcome to life. The Badass solution is to take care of our Badasses even as we keep them active, if only at a much slower pace.

There is a lot to be said for walking, especially outside on a beautiful night as the sun starts to set. There is clarity to be found during these walks, as the chaos of the day falls back.

There are also some bootylicious strength benefits to walking on a treadmill with a steep incline at a slower pace. Hello, glutes and hamstrings!!!

This week, I've been at the gym as usual before dawn -- but instead of sprinting I am methodically hiking up my own imaginary, Badass-created mountain trail.

I share it with all of you Badass Army soldiers as a go-to workout for when you are taking an "active rest ay" from weight training and intense cardio, or for when you're recovering from an injury or the flu or a cold. Whatever it is that has slowed you down, use this routine to get back into the swing of things, even as you're letting your body heal. If you're just starting out on the Badass journey, start here and work your way up to jogging and running.

Adjust the speed here and there to challenge yourselves as needed, but remember: This is an active RECOVERY workout, key word being RECOVERY.

I actually broke a sweat on this one, and my glutes felt a lot tighter at the end of the hourlong routine. Which is, well ... Badass!

Down but not Out Badass Hike

First 5 minutes: Warmup at 3.0 mph, zero incline

Next two minutes: Bump to a 5.0 incline, 3.0 mph

Next two minutes: Bump to a 7.0 incline, 3.0 mph

Next two minutes: Bump to 9.0 incline, 3.2 mph

Next two minutes: Bump to 11.0 incline, 3.4 mph

Next two minutes: Bump to 13.0 incline, 3.4 mph

Next two minutes: Bump to 15.0 incline, 3.5 mph

Now: Go down the way you climbed up, decreasing the incline by 2.0 every 2 minutes until you get back to a 5.0 incline.

Next: Go back up, increasing the incline by 2.0 every 2 minutes until you get back to a 15.0 incline.

Repeat this up and down climbing pattern for 60 minutes, or as much time as you have.

04/05/2010

You know a workout is powerful when it pushes you to new places, when it allows you to dig deep within yourself and discover strengths you never knew you had.

Hot yoga, also known as Bikram Yoga, is powerful. And yet, it heals. I was reminded of that Sunday morning as I stood there midway through my 90-minute class at Journeys in Yoga, sweat pouring off me as I moved from a standing tree pose to a forward fold with surprising ease.

Oh, how far I had come.

When I started doing hot yoga with owner Suzanne Harrell at Journeys about 15 months ago, I struggled to get into many of the poses. And I certainly struggled to maintain them for 30 seconds to a minute, as the series requires. I was also struggling within myself. What did I want? Where was I going? Was I strong enough to get there on my own?

But every week, no matter what kind of week I had, I went to hot yoga. And with each class, my muscles that were always so tight from cycling and running and weightlifting began to open up. They felt longer, more flexible. More powerful.

And somewhere along my yoga journey, this Type A Badass began to appreciate the power and importance of meditation. Of just...being...still. I learned to appreciate imperfection, within myself and within others. When I fall down out of a pose, it's OK. Just like it's OK to fall down in life. When it happens, we get back up and keep at it.

I gained confidence, and I gained the perspective I needed to figure out where I was meant to go and what I am supposed to do with the talents I have. This blog grew in part out of that self-discovery.

"I see people come in here and over time they get more confidence and courage," Suzanne told me after class on Sunday. "They come onto the mat not having a relationship with their bodies. It's as if they're detached from it, but they learn to kind of accept it and move forward with this compassion and this sense of wanting to care for it."

"You see them start to relax and ease into their poses. They realize they can have fun and explore," Suzanne said. "They have permission to come in here and not be perfect. We don't really give ourselves permission to be imperfect in real life."

There were many days when I sat there on that mat, in whatever pose, and I shut everything else out. I forced myself into stillness, and I healed. Some days, in the final few minutes when Suzanne let us just lay still in our own thoughts, I cried. But I also healed. And every time, I walked out feeling stronger.

Yoga has been used for more than 5,000 years, long before we had Spinning and kettle bells and step class. There are dozens of different schools of yoga, which literally means "to join or yoke together." The idea is that through yoga, you join together your mind, body, and spirit to improve your body and overall well-being.

It is the ultimate balancer. And balance is what this Badass journey is all about! If you haven't taken a yoga class, I seriously encourage you to try.

Because beyond the mental benefits, yoga -- and hot yoga in particular -- brings a long list of amazing physical benefits that are especially vital for active Badasses who regularly run, cycle, swim and lift weights.

The room is heated to between 98 and 105 degrees, give or take, and as the humidity rises the sweat comes, in large quantities. Hot yoga uses the skin, our largest organ, to detoxify our bodies.

"By using the skin, you take pressure off the organs that usually detoxify us -- the liver, the kidneys, even the lungs," Suzanne said.

The heat also warms the muscles, allowing us to stretch and move more deeply into poses. Hot yoga helps improve flexibility, massages the organs, and tones muscles. By moving from pose to pose, with a series that includes standing poses and mat poses, hot yoga also provides a cardiovascular workout. It's not a cycling class, but it is vigorous in its own way.

Yoga also has been proven to reduce blood pressure, respiratory rate, and pulse rate, even as it boosts energy levels and helps us sleep better.

And if you are lucky enough to have an amazing teacher like Suzanne, you leave not just detoxified and feeling physically cleansed. You leave with little nuggets of wisdom.

Sunday, as we left the room, she told us: "Surrender the intellect of the mind to the wisdom of the heart."

Wow. Thank you, Suzanne, I think I just might...And I hope you Badasses just might get yourselves to a yoga mat soon.

12/04/2009

OK, I'm about to preach something that I, admittedly, am not so religious about practicing: The power of rest and recovery. By my Badass and yours must get rest. Same goes for our quads, calves, arms, backs, and shoulders.

Anyone who spends, oh, 15 minutes with me can see I don't do the whole "sitting still" thing very well. I walk fast, even when I'm not in a hurry. I thrive on juggling multiple tasks and deadlines. Even at my desk, I often sit at the edge of my seat as if prepared to bolt at any moment -- something a fellow Type A journalist/editor once observed with a mixture of puzzlement and admiration.

So if I had my druthers, and if my body were superhuman, I would probably exercise at full steam every day. Alas, I am definitely not superhuman, so my muscles get sore and tired and need a break. Sometimes, my heart and energy wants me to keep pushing it. But I put my Smart Badass hat on and say, "Nope. Today, we rest."

You should, too. When you lift weights and run and cycle, you are breaking down muscle through that effort. The muscles repair themselves and get stronger in the 24 to 48 hours in between. That's why weight lifting routines have you alternating muscle groups: Legs one day, shoulders the next, etc.

Even as you work hard to get stronger, beware of bolting out of the gate at 100 mph and going full throttle for day after day. That enthusiasm is so great, but if you go too hard, you risk burning out. Then your "rest day" turns into two, and three, and four. Before you know it: Couch Potato-Ass. Not so pretty as the Badass, right?

But if you rest a day or two, you'll return to your exercise regimen feeling stronger and performing accordingly. Some of the best workouts I've had came after a vacation. That was my body saying, "Thanks for the time off."

So as we enter the weekend, think back on the week of exercise you had. If it was light or non-existent, take advantage of the extra hours this weekend to do something with that body of yours. Why keep the Porsche in the garage where it's gonna just get dusty and old? Take it for a ride, Badasses! Show off whatcha got!

But if you've gone hard core since Monday, do like I plan to do Saturday: Rest. That doesn't mean you have to sit on the couch all day. There is such a thing as "active rest," like going for a nice walk or stretching for 20 to 30 minutes. I might even do a yoga class. But I won't be running or cycling or lifting.

And a little end note as happy hour Friday cometh: Consider libations that wreak less havoc on your healthy eating. A vodka soda with lime rings in at about 75 calories. A glass of wine is less than 150 calories for a typical pour. Compare that to just a single shot of liquor, which can ring in at as much as 175 to 200 calories. (There I am below left with my friend Jenn, practicing what I preach about wine.)

A light beer? 100 or less per bottle, and low in carbs. If you're doing rum and Coke, go for Diet Coke (that's what's in my red cup there at the UF-FSU game...)

So do your Badass some good -- skip the banana daiquiri and the three-shot special. Savor a great glass of wine instead. There's antioxidants in there, ya know...